Catching up with some crafting....

Hi Everyone,

It has been a busy few weeks for me, getting my house ready for a holiday party next week.  Sometimes it's good to have a reason to stop crafting and do some much needed home care, but this girl needs to find a least a little time to craft!

After missing out on Tim Holtz's October tag, I made sure to get the November tag in before I start my hard core Christmas crafting.

Here is Tim's tag:

Click here for his tutorial.

 

 

I love that pumpkin, and the cork text element is totally cool!  What I love best though, is how keeping the embellishments simple allows the amazing background to shine.

 

Here is my version of the tag:

 

As I usually do, I followed Tim's instructions for the background closely.  Isn't the foil applied with t glue stick a genius technique?   I chose a brighter palette, as I wanted this piece to stand out from the brown tones in my display boxes.  I don't have the pumpkin blueprint stamp, (although after seeing Tim's neat technique this month, I surely do want it!) so I used this lovely little girl from my collection of vintage advertising cards instead.  I made a copy, matted it, and popped it up over my background stamp with foam tape.

 

I attempted to cut a cork sheet that I purchased years ago at a dollar store with my Silver Bullet digital die cutter.  It didn't work out so well, not that it wouldn't cut, but because the cork was so old and dried out, it crumbled as I removed it from the mat.  That's ok, chipboard made an ok substitute, especially when I inked it with Distress inks to match the background of my image, and edged it with Distress paint.

 

 

Here is one last shot of my November Tag of 2015.  As always, I am displaying it in my wall of boxes.  I like the nice touch of autumn color that it adds. 

 

Thanks for stopping by! 

 

Elizabeth

12 Tags of 2015 - May

Happy Sunday, Everyone!

Hope you all are having a fabulous weekend.  Today I am sharing my Tim Holtz inspired May 2015 tag project.  First, here's a peek at Tim's inspiration tag:

I'm pretty sure that this is my favorite so far.  (I'm also pretty sure I say that every month.  They just keep getting  better and better, as impossible as that seems!)

Here is my take.  I finally got around to adding some paint to the second "frame".  I painted a layer of Gathered Twig DP, and dry brushed on touches of Walnut Stain.

I used a mix of ephemera cut from Tim Holtz Idea-ology papers, and copies of my personal attic collection, along with Idea-ology, random bits and pieces, Chit Chat stickers, and Remnant Rubs.  My tiny roses and buds were cut with my Silver Bullet Professional cutter, colored with Distress Stains, and assembled.  

Some close ups:

 

I used a charcoal pencil to ground my ephemera on the burlap backing.  The mirrored star was alcohol inked and then rubbed with a bit of Gathered Twig Distress Paint.  (The brown circles were punched from sandpaper. I can't recall why I did that, but I sure am glad I kept them in my "junque" box!)

 

The rhinestones on the frame received the same treatment as the mirrored star; Alcohol ink followed by a bit of Distress Paint.  I didn't want anything to be too bright and shiny. I don't know who the lovely lady is, but since she was in the family attic, I'm claiming her as a relative.   You can see my stenciled and inked embossing paste peeking out from behind the elements on the left side.  I added many layers of Distress Paint to the metal label frame before adding the Remnant rub label.  It started out shiny, believe it or not! I tied it on to my tag with a simple Distress dyed seam binding bow.

I love my Penny Duncan Creations rose SVG files.  Being able to cut them in any size (less than 1/2 inch in diameter for these ones!) with my Silver Bullet and SCAL software gives just the flexibility that I crave as a crafter.  The foliage cut is also one of Penny's designs. 

Here you can see the custom charms I made using alcohol ink and a Remnant Rub on a glass charm, and alcohol ink and Distress Paint on a gumdrop in an Idea-ology Type Charm base.  I find that the Distress palette of products coordinates really well with my collection of attic ephemera, as well as Tim's  Idea-ology ephemera, which makes creating matching, custom colored bits and pieces really simple and fun. 

Creating this month's tag was a rewarding process of combining personal and reproduction ephemera, and creating custom coordinated embellishments using my collection of Tim Holtz products.  What a pleasure!

I hope you find time to have some fun playing with Tim's ideas for the May tag of 2015!

Thanks for stopping by!

Elizabeth

My April "Tim Tag" and a sneak peak....

Hi Everyone,

Just a quick post tonight to share my April 2015 Tag, as inspired by Tim Holtz.  First, here is his tag:

I'm loving the clean and simple look of these tags.  They are so fresh and evocative of the season.  Here is my version:

I didn't stray too far from Tim's beautiful original.  As I have been doing all year, I challenged myself to use tools and supplies that I have on hand.  I used a combination of a water brush and Distress Inks, and miscellaneous markers for my water coloring.  My background was splattered using a paint brush, and I cut the text using my Silver Bullet Professional cutter. 

Here's a sneak peek of some of the ephemera I have been using on my current project:

Stay tuned for more details.  I'm going to have a rare weekend to myself soon, and am hoping to blast some projects off my work table. 

Thanks for stopping by today.  Have a beautiful week!

Elizabeth

Soar

Hello Everyone!

Happy Monday!  I had time recently to try out Tim Holtz's March 2015 tag.  I sure am loving his background techniques this year!  They are so much fun to make, and very versatile.  I'm sure to be finding uses for them all year long.  I followed the instructions as closely as I could with what I had on hand, changing up the colors and stamps to match my style and stash. 

Here is my version of the March Tag:

 

 

 

I used a combination of Idea-ology, new metal items, and vintage metal snaps and buttons from my stash.  The round blue item is a vintage thumbtack in the perfect color to match the Stormy Sky Distress paint I used to color some of my Idea-ology findings. 

 

I used bird stamps from the Nature Walk set,  and Distress Painted Alpha Parts letters.

Now that I've finished this month's project, I can't wait to see what techniques Tim will be sharing with us in April. 

With this project, I will be linking up for the first time with the Shopping Our Stash challenge. I love a challenge that encourages me to use up what I have.   The current challenge, #191, is to use our oldest metal stash.  I have used metal snaps and buttons that are far older than I am!  They have been in my stash for at least 20 years, and resided in the attic of my parents; home for many years prior to that.  I like to think that my frugal ancestors would appreciate that I have used these carefully saved and long hoarded buttons in this way. 

12 Tags of 2015 - February

Hi Everyone!

Hope you are having a fabulous Friday!  Yesterday, I found time (because I completely ignored everything else!) to play with Tim Holtz' techniques for the February 2015 tag.  Click here to view his tutorial and amazing art. 

For my collaged background, I used a combination of papers from an 8 inch Tim Holtz stack, and vintage papers from my stash.  I had fun mixing them up.  Here is how my "tag" turned out:

 

As I described last month, I am making art to frame and display in my wall of vintage boxes.  Here is how my February piece fits in there:

I'm not sure which "box" is the best spot.  I'll keep moving it around until it finds the right place.  As you can see, this month I painted the "frame". 

I used a variety of white acrylic paints, some Wendy Vecchi crackle paste, and Distress Inks (Brushed Corduroy and Pumice Stone)to give my frame an aged appearance  It's pretty rough, and that's the way I like it. 

Here are some close ups of some of my favorite elements.

 

 Thank you, Mr. Tim, for inspiring another fun project! 

Elizabeth

New Year, New Project....

Happy New Year to All!

I am starting off 2015 with a few crafty commitments, one of which is to complete all twelve of Tim Holtz's monthly tags.  Here is my version of his January tag.

Rather than a tag, I have decided to create pieces to fit this "frame". ( Actually it's the door of a jewelry box that I picked up at the thrift store and broke down into several alterable pieces.  At some point I'll give the frame a more neutral finish, but the orange tones work with this piece, so I can put that off for this month.) 

I was intrigued by Tim's background technique, and followed his detailed tutorial quite closely, using stamped tissue paper rather than tissue wrap.  This was important to me, as my main challenge for 2015 is to make do with supplies on hand, rather than purchasing anything new.  I have plenty of stash, so the hard part of this challenge will be breaking my shopping habit. 

I used my Silver Bullet Cutter and Sure Cuts A Lot software to cut the numbers. 

 

The 15 was cut from gray cardstock.  I embossed it with the Tim Holtz Alterations folder Cracked, then dry brushed it with the Distress Paint colors I used for my background, Evergreen Bough and Mowed Lawn. I spritzed it with water and brushed on a bit of antique silver Perfect Pearls, then lightly applied black soot Distress Ink to the edges.  I backed it with black cardstock to make the number stand out, and popped it up with foam squares.

 

 

I filled the space under the arch with a quote, stamped on a wrinkle free distress background with Archival Ink Leaf Green.  I sparkled it up with a generous layer of Rock Candy Distress Stickles, before layering it with more black cardstock.  I used Distress Paints in Frayed Burlap, Gathered Twig, and Black Soot to give an aged patina to the binder clip. 

 

 

As Tim did in his inspiration, I added  Distress Stained chit chat words, a metal embellishment, and mirrored stars to complete my January 2015 framed art piece. 

 

As always, I am happy that you spent some time with me today.  I wish you all a very happy and healthy 2015!

 

Elizabeth